US Dumping 5 Times More Plastic Than Previously Thought

WOODS HOLE, MASSACHUSETTS — America's contribution to the plastic trash crisis in the world's oceans is up to five times worse than previously thought.

A follow-up study published recently in Science Advances comes as a sequel to 2015 research, which had given a rough estimate of the waste contribution by the US.

The new study has now revealed that Americans contributed between 1.1 and 2.2 million metric tons of plastic to the oceans in 2016. This is five times more than the lowest estimates from 2015.

The study has revealed that Americans are using more plastic than ever before, and the data included American waste exports that were not accounted for in their previous studies.

About 88% of the country's waste exports goes to countries with poor recycling infrastructure.

Recent developments have shown that much of the plastic waste that is exported does not go through recycling systems and ends up in the oceans.